Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps
https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2026/03/android-de...
Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps
https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2026/03/android-de...
The part in the flow where you select between allowing app installs for 7 days or forever is a glimpse into the future. That toggle shows the thought process that's going on at Google.
I can bet that a few versions down the line, the "Not recommended" option of allowing installs indefinitely will become so not recommended that they'll remove it outright. Then shrink the 7 day window to 3 days or less. Or only give users one allowed attempt at installing an app, after which it's another 24 hour waiting period for you. Then ask the user to verify themselves as a developer if they want to install whatever they want. Whatever helps them turn people away from alternatives and shrink the odds of someone dislodging their monopoly, they will do. Anything to drive people to Google Play only.
An actual example of this lives in the Gmail iOS app. Click a link in an email and every x days, a sheet appears: https://imgur.com/a/nlGS4Yk
1. Chrome
2. Google
3. Default browser app (w/unfamiliar generic logo)
They removed the option for Safari some time in the last two years; here's how it looked in 2024: https://imgur.com/1iBVFfc
And the cherry on top of dark UX patterns: an unchecked toggle rests at the bottom. "Ask me which app to use every time." You cannot stop getting these.
Yes, I want through this last year and documented it in a screencast. This is how it looks https://mstdn.social/@can/115243851196253381
How is this legal?

Attached: 1 video How is this legal? It probably isn't? Google Workspace cancellation dark pattern #Google #Privacy
Don't assign to malice what can be explained by incompetence:
* new automated UX experiments starts
* the UI bot made a change that made the page unscrollable
* the experiment has a much higher rate of retention then the control (because people can't scroll)
* the experiment is deemed a success by results analysis (no one looks at the page to see WHY)
* the experiment is blessed as the new pipeline
Such an obvious business improvement made by Gemini !
>Don't assign to malice what can be explained by incompetence:
OK, if it is a bug, what are the different time frames for people experiencing this pretty serious bug?